Pov Mikki (A)

  Everything burns around Mikki. She wakes up in her room, coughing from suffocating smoke. Opening her eyes, she sees the asylum completely engulfed in fmes. Gncing out the window, she realizes Neko City is abze, with lifeless bodies strewn across the streets.

  She springs out of bed, her mind racing. What had happened? She recalls going to sleep after a long day of work. An explosion? It didn’t feel real.

  Mikki rushes out of her room, her first instinct leading her to Sarah’s room—but Sarah isn’t there. Her second thought is Zye, but once again, no one is there. As she stumbles out of the asylum, the devastation around her becomes clear. She recognizes the bodies of her friends from high school, some patients from the asylum, and even fellow staff members. They were all dead.

  Mikki picks up a pistol lying on the ground, still clutched in the hand of one of her colleagues. Armed, she strides into the burning city, her mind clouded with confusion and grief. She has no idea what happened or who could have caused such destruction.

  In the distance, she spots a figure—a person standing amidst the chaos. The figure isn’t armed. She has long red hair, wears jeans and a green sweater, but the most striking feature is the eyepatch covering one of her eyes. Arms crossed, the woman stares silently at Mikki.

  Mikki’s hand trembles, anger boiling inside her. She grips the pistol tightly and points it at the red-haired woman. Her voice cracks as she yells:

  “You’re the one behind all this, aren’t you? Why did you do this? Why did you kill them all?”

  The woman doesn’t respond. She simply stares at Mikki, her expression unreadable.

  “Answer me!” Mikki screams.

  Still no reply. The silence is too much for Mikki to bear. Her fury reaches its peak as she levels the gun between the woman’s eyes and fires.

  As the red-haired woman falls to the ground, a sharp, chilling voice echoes behind Mikki. She barely has time to react before an unbearable pain shoots through her arm.

  "In the ashes of fire, a mark takes form,

  A pact sealed beneath the glow of reform.

  The wounded redhead, key to a dark design,

  The choice of a bullet will seal the line."

  She heard those words but couldn’t decipher to whom the voice belonged. One thing was certain, though—the voice sent chills down her spine. Beads of sweat trickled down her back as the pain in her arm persisted. When she removed her jacket, she noticed a design had formed on the upper part of her arm—a tattoo shaped like a fming bird.

  Mikki ran her fingers over the tattoo, wincing as the pain lingered. It felt as though she had been branded with a scorching iron. She looked around once more, her surroundings unfamiliar. Moving forward cautiously, she found herself in an open square that was clearly not Neko City. No, this was an entirely different pce. At the center of the square stood a towering lion statue.

  "Where am I?"

  The question hung in the air unanswered, but she could make out other shadows slowly approaching her from the edges of the square.

  Pov Eliana (B)

  Eliana stepped onto the stage, standing before a crowd composed solely of humans. She gnced around, her gaze falling on the golden object held by a man at the center of the stage. As she approached, she recognized it—a golden statuette. It was the Astemien Prize, an award given to those who had successfully stopped a war.

  But Eliana couldn’t recall achieving such a monumental feat in her life. Confusion gripped her as she reached the middle of the stage. The presenter began to speak.

  "Eliana Sikora, you are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the war between the Republic and the Confederation. Congratutions."

  Eliana stood beside the presenter, stunned, as the audience erupted into loud appuse. A smile crept across her lips despite her bewilderment, but in an instant, the mood shifted. The cheers faltered, appuse faded, and angry shouts rose from the crowd.

  "She betrayed humanity!"

  "Traitors deserve the death penalty!"

  "She deserted her own unit—what a disgrace!"

  "Somebody, catch her!"

  The boos and jeers were deafening. Those in the front rows climbed onto the stage, their fists raised in anger. Instinct took over, and Eliana turned and bolted, racing for her life. She spotted an exit door and darted through it, sprinting down a long corridor as the enraged mob gave chase.

  As she fled, her arm throbbed with sudden, searing pain. A voice echoed in her mind, cold and foreboding, as though speaking directly into her thoughts.

  “The peace she upholds ignites their ire,

  Amidst the crowd’s cries, the fmes grow dire.

  In the world's ashes, the same mark she bears,

  Two souls entwined, an uncertain fate shared.”

  She finally escapes the building, only to emerge into a city engulfed in fmes. Countless bodies litter the streets, familiar faces frozen in death. Her heart sinks as she stumbles into a square dominated by a towering lion statue.

  Standing across from her is another figure—a cat-woman with jet-bck hair. Eliana’s arm throbs with intense pain, forcing her to strip off her sweater. Her eyes widen as a tattoo begins to take shape on her upper arm, glowing faintly like embers.

  She gnces up and locks eyes with the cat-woman, who raises her own arm. The same tattoo, etched in fiery detail, burns bright on her skin

  Pov Taiwo (A-B)

  A mature woman sits at a desk in a dimly lit office, the glow of her computer illuminating her focused face. She is a semi-lioness with dark blue-gray hair, tied neatly into a professional style. Cd in a sharp bck suit beneath a long military coat that cascades to the small of her back, she projects an air of authority. Her desk bears a pque reading "Taiwo Kariuki." Her fingers type away on the keyboard as she works through her pns, the rhythm uninterrupted until a sudden knock at the door.

  “Come in!” she commands, her voice firm and commanding.

  She doesn’t look up immediately, expecting a routine interruption. But when the door opens, her golden eyes narrow in surprise. Standing before her is the towering figure of the army general, a fellow semi-lion with a proud and imposing stature. Behind him, a contingent of soldiers—semi-humans of various savanna species—stand with weapons ready, their stony gazes fixed on her.

  "Prime Minister Kariuki," the general announces coldly, "you are under arrest for corruption and endangering the people of Okarie. Surrender yourself immediately."

  Taiwo raises an eyebrow, her movements measured and deliberate as she rises from her chair. Her lips curl into a faint smirk, though her eyes remain sharp and calcuting. She exhales softly, a small, almost amused scoff escaping her throat.

  “Is this a coup d’état?” she asks, her tone ced with irony as she pces her hands lightly on the edge of the desk.

  The general shakes his head, his expression unchanging as he steps further into the office, the soldiers following closely behind him. Their weapons remain trained on her, a clear sign that resistance will be met with force.

  Taiwo raised her hands calmly, unfastening the whip from her waist with deliberate care before letting it fall to the floor. Her movements betrayed no panic, only a measured acceptance of the moment. A soldier approached, carrying heavy manacles that gleamed coldly under the dim light. He stepped behind her, roughly grasped her wrists, and snapped the cuffs into pce with an audible clink.

  Her military coat was removed, stripped away as though to signal the loss of her authority. She did not resist, only straightened her posture, her lion-like pride refusing to waver. The soldiers escorted her out of her office, their boots echoing loudly in the silent corridors of the grand pace.

  The walk was long and cold. Taiwo’s sharp eyes took in the walls around her, halls she had walked countless times with dignity now reduced to mere passageways to captivity. The entourage descended into the dimly lit basement of the pace, the air growing stale as they went deeper.

  At st, they reached her destination: a bare cell of steel walls and a single, heavy iron door. The room offered no amenities—no bed, no toilet, not even a window to provide a sliver of light or hope. She was pushed inside unceremoniously, the door smming shut behind her with a finality that resonated through the space.

  Still cuffed, Taiwo looked around her stark new confines, her gaze sharp and unyielding. With nothing else to do, she sank against the cold wall, trying to rest, if only briefly. But as her eyes began to close, a sharp, searing pain erupted in her arm, causing her to wince and jolt upright.

  A voice, low and otherworldly, filled the air around her. Its words were unclear, distorted like a whisper carried through the wind, but their presence was undeniable. The pain in her arm intensified, and as she tore off her sleeve to inspect it, her breath caught in her throat.

  A fiery tattoo began to etch itself into her skin, glowing faintly as it formed. It was the unmistakable image of a lion, its mane made of fmes that seemed to flicker and move. Her heart raced as she stared at it, the voice speaking again, this time more distinct yet chillingly cryptic.

  "Under chains of iron, the thread stitches her flesh,

  The shadow of lions walks to the rhythm of the fmes' thresh.

  An explosion carries her to souls that bear the mark,

  Three fates entwined, a future to carve in the dark."

  Taiwo stumbled out of the wreckage, her heart racing as the heat from the explosion intensified around her. Her mind was still trying to process the sudden shift in reality. The pain that had been coursing through her arm was gone, repced by a strange sense of freedom as the shackles disappeared.

  She stood in the middle of the fiery city, recognizing it immediately—the capital of her nation, the Kingdom of Okarie. The pce where she'd once held power, where she had fallen so far from grace. Her mind raced as she realized she had no time to dwell on it. The city was burning, and she needed to escape.

  She sprinted through the chaos, dodging debris, fmes, and smoke. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran until she reached a familiar square. The statue of Sekani, the first Prime Minister of Okarie, stood proudly in the center. Taiwo had seen it many times before, but now it felt like a haunting reminder of everything she had lost.

  There, standing in front of her, were two figures she didn’t recognize: a cat-like woman with dark hair and an air of mystery, and a young human woman who had an intellectual aura, her eyes focused with a calcuting intensity. They both seemed to be waiting for something, their postures tense, yet there was an understanding in their gazes.

  Taiwo didn’t know who they were or why they were here, but one thing was certain—their fates were now intertwined, just as hers had become in this ruined, burning world.

  Pov Ali (B)

  The car had stopped at the gas station, Ali was leaning against the car door. It had been several hours since they left the motel where she had been resting with Eliana. Ali had filled the gas tank, and now she was waiting for her friend who had gone to pay for the fuel at the store and buy dinner for the evening when they would continue driving.

  She looked at her watch. Eliana seemed to be taking much longer than she should have. Ali was starting to worry. Maybe she had encountered some soldiers from the Republic and had been captured. She imagined a hundred different scenarios in her mind, but to be sure, she decided to go to the store next to the gas station.

  Ali entered the store, which was quiet. There was no one inside—no cashier, no customers, and she couldn’t see Eliana. She pced her hand on her belt where she kept a revolver and took it in hand, just as a precaution.

  She headed toward the back of the store, but once again, there was no one. Suddenly, she heard noises—the door had opened. She could hear it thanks to the little bells that rang when the door was opened. She grabbed her gun and stepped out from the back room. In front of her, there was a group of lion-like semi-humans wearing leather jackets, and they had a crest she didn’t recognize. One of them spoke.

  “We were sent to settle your account. You’re allied with a human, that’s disgraceful.”

  Her first reflex was to point her gun at the lions, but she suddenly felt a pain behind her head. One of the gang members had arrived from behind, through the back room. Had he been waiting there? She was knocked to the ground but quickly got back up. Her gun had fallen when she hit the ground, and she didn’t have time to retrieve it. The only escape route was the window, so she ran toward it and, surprisingly, managed to break the gss. Even for a wolf, this wasn’t the easiest feat to accomplish.

  However, she was injured. The gss had cut parts of her body, but that didn’t matter—what mattered most was fleeing, running far from these lions. The lions quickly began chasing after her.

  As she fled, a pain hit her arm, and a voice could be heard.

  "Under a sky of neon lights, danger comes to roar,

  Enraged lions hunt her desire to flee.

  Injured but standing, she joins the marked,

  Four souls chained, a fate to break."

  She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and the terrain had completely changed. She had arrived in a city in fmes. She stopped in front of a rge square where three other women were staring at her as she arrived.

  Pov Sarah (A)

  Sarah descended the stairs of the asylum and arrived in the entrance hall. She couldn’t sleep, which was quite usual. She quickly made her way to the kitchen and looked in the fridge. She was hungry and took the leftovers from the evening meal. After closing the fridge, she heard noises in the hallway. People had just entered the asylum.

  At first, she wondered if it was one of the nurses returning from her cigarette break. She slightly opened the dining room door, and there she saw a group of people—lion men. This wasn’t normal in Neko City. Even though lions were felines, they couldn’t live healthily in a city with such a humid climate.

  Sarah quickly devised a pn. Should she try to warn Dena? She dismissed the thought; Dena’s room was in the basement in her boratory, and Sarah couldn’t enter. She then realized that the lions had passed through security—had they died? Sarah had no idea.

  So, she decided to follow them into the asylum. Not long after they had gone upstairs, Sarah, in her pajamas and barefoot, was much quieter than if she were wearing shoes or heels. They ascended to the third floor and stopped in front of the cells. Sarah watched them and widened her eyes when they opened one of the cell doors. The reason was that this cell belonged to Zye. One of the lions entered the cell, and Sarah couldn’t stop herself from shouting,

  “Stop! Stop!”

  The lions didn’t seem to notice Sarah. One of them just turned as if she were nothing more than a gust of wind. The lion who had entered Zye’s cell came out, carrying her like a ragdoll, blood trickling from her head.

  Then they destroyed the wall. Sarah couldn’t understand how they had managed to break it—it wasn’t a polystyrene wall but a brick one. Then they jumped down to the ground.

  “Zye! No! Let her go!”

  She felt her legs start to run, adrenaline rushing to her head as she sprinted toward them. She jumped from the third floor, something she would never have done normally, and nded without any problems. But the lions and Zye were gone. Sarah ran into the woods near the asylum, feeling pain in her arm, when a voice was heard.

  “The cry of a child fades beneath the cw,

  Of a cruel lioness, the asylum empties.

  Fleeing the horror, she joins the marked,

  Five souls bound, a fate to defy..”

  While running, she finds herself in a city on fire and joins the square where four other people are, including her sister.

  Pov All (A-B)

  The five girls look at each other, analyzing one another, and finally, a figure appears above the statue. It is a woman in her te twenties, accompanied by wolves who approach them. She has white hair with red streaks and wears an old military uniform.

  "My name is Lupa... I have chosen you five because a camity is about to unfold. I have given you each a prophecy, one that will guide you on your journey. You are the Firebirds..."

  Time seemed to freeze, and the five girls passed out, only to wake up in their respective beds.